This invention relates to earphones for portable electronic entertainment devices and, in particular, to a cable take-up for earphones.
Entertainment electronics has come full circle since the early days of radio when headphones were required in order to hear the signal plucked from the ether by a crystal detector. Later, vacuum tubes provided sufficient amplification to drive "loudspeakers", permitting several people to listen to the same radio simultaneously. The quest for fidelity, nearly attained with digital audio, has sent many consumers back to the headphone in order to avoid the considerable cost of high fidelity power amplifiers and speakers. The headphone has become reduced in size to two small earpieces fitting within each ear and capable of reproducing sound with remarkable fidelity.
As used herein, "headphone" and "earphone" mean any device placed in or on the human ear for producing audible sound. As used herein, "entertainment device" means any electronic entertainment apparatus, portable or fixed, such as radio, television, tape or compact disk (CD) player, electronic game, and multimedia computer.
Earphones typically include earpieces attached to one end of a four wire electrical cable having a plug on the other end. The cable is a source of inconvenience because the length of the cable is rarely the appropriate length for the particular use being made of the entertainment device. Also, there is no place to store the cable when the earphones are not in use. Typically, the cable is wrapped around the device or gathered into a ball and stuffed into a pocket. Either of these storage techniques frequently causes broken wires within the cable.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,617 (Boylan) discloses a take-up including a hollow case worn on a belt and a first cable connected between a plug and a first side of a commutator within the case. A second cable is connected between the commutator and a pair of earphones. The second cable is wound around a spring-loaded spool within the case for automatically retracting the cable when the force withdrawing the second cable is less than the tension from the spring.
The short first cable in the patented take-up severely limits the use of the earphones because it does not mechanically attach the case of the take-up to an entertainment device. Placing the entertainment device on a desk or shelf requires unplugging the earphone or removing the take-up from the belt and leaving it dangling from the device. Furthermore, the constant tension on the cable can be an annoyance, even if the entertainment device is also attached to the belt of the listener.
In view of the foregoing, it is therefor an object of the invention to provide a cable take-up which electrically and mechanically attaches to an entertainment device.
It is another object of the invention to provide a cable take-up which permits the cable to slacken when withdrawn to its desired length.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a cable take-up which has a durable cable for many cycles of extension and retraction.